Ear Notching

[Dino]

How many of you identify your pigs by notching their ears? How many of you notch unregistered litters?

I am wondering what the odds might be when you see a pig with notched ears that it is a purebred from a registerable breeder farm?

 

[Cornish Heritage]

We have notched every piglet that was ever born here. Personally I don't see how you can keep good records without doing this. For us when we were raising both crosses & pure breds of three breeds we started each breed off at Litter 1. Clear as mud right?! Hah! The first litter of Large Blacks born here were Litter #1 as were the first litter of GOS & the cross breeds. This ensured that we were not getting too high in litter numbers/ear notches too soon. As it was obvious which breed was which there was no question of one getting muddled.

With the ear notches done which does not hurt the pigs despite what some folks say, we then could write down in our records what each one was. That way if one died we knew exactly which one it was. Ear notching within the first 24 hours is the best time to do it. Mama is still feeling tired. Grab the piglet & hold it's mouth shut, do the notching & replace quickly. Make sure mama had been given a good bowl of goodies away from the nest.

Liz

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

Everybody I know (Except my father) notches or tags ears. If you are running more than a couple pigs there is just NO way to tell litters apart once they are all close to the same age. I think I finally have him convinced to ear tag. I know they're more likely to rip out but he's willing to tag and it took 3 litters before I got him to do his own castrations. He's a big weenie when it comes to anything like that.

 

[Cornish Heritage]

I think I finally have him convinced to ear tag.

I have seen the bloody mess that ear tags can create if they pull out & it is not pretty. PLUS if you have pigs with floppy ears it is imperative that you place them correctly so that the ear tag does not hit them in the eye. Of course when pigs fight or get their heads somewhere they shouldn't then they can rip a notched ear too so nothing is perfect but I still prefer notching. ALSO some registries only accept certain forms of identification for registration purposes so if you are raising registered stock make sure you know the rules of your association.

Liz